As each season of The Bachelor, Bachelorette, and Bachelor in Paradise hits the small screen, one of the biggest questions fans have has to do with the salaries of those who participate.
Just how much do the stars of the show make as they give up their personal lives and jobs for an eight-to-ten week span of time to appear on the reality dating series?
Us Weekly spoke to Jason Tartick and Dean Unglert, who opened up about the behind-the-scenes scoop.
Jason discussed the topic on his Trading Secrets podcast.
“I think we live in a system that forces us to not talk about money because it puts those at the top in a better position,” the Bachelorette alum said.
“It reduces the leverage we have as individuals if we don’t have the information of what other people are making, or how much they should be making, or how much they’re paying, or some of the inside scoop of different industries that could allow us to be better consumers, investors and employees,” Jason explained.
“The idea is to break that stigma and to get really comfortable talking about this because, at this point, all we have are some websites out there that are taking estimates of, you know, what we should be paid, and how much we should pay for things. And the more that we can tell our stories, the better we’ll be in a position to learn,” he explained.
Jason and Dean discussed details of their Bachelor Nation contracts
Jason and Dean spoke about the details of their Bachelor Nation contracts on the podcast, and how much the stars of the show are paid for a day’s work filming.
“They hit me up and they’re like, ‘Hey, do you want to do Bachelor in Paradise? This other show that pays $400 bucks a day? You could be there for up to like 30 days, something like that,’” Dean recalled.
“I was like, ‘Oh yeah, great. $400 bucks a day, 30 days, $12,000. That’s fantastic.’ And then I start talking to some friends and they’re like, well, ‘You should get more money because … you’re going to be, like, the guy they want most from your season [to] go to Paradise minus, like, Peter Kraus,‘” he stated.
The reality star said he upped the ante and asked for $800 a day before the production company counter-offered with $600.
“I just had wanted them to pay, could have been $1 more, you know, [out of] principle,” Dean said. “I wanted them to pay me more than they were offering everybody else.”
Dean also revealed he was paid $400 a day to participate in The Bachelor Winter Games.
According to Jason, there were also differences in the offers made to himself, Colton and Blake Horstmann in their offers to be the next Bachelor.
Prior to Colton Underwood being named star lead of Season 23, both Jason and Blake were in the running for the title. They were all offered $100,000 to star in the series.
The Bachelor will not return to ABC until 2022
The Bachelor will not return to ABC this year. The bulk of Bachelor Nation programming will be held by The Bachelorette, which will run two consecutive seasons. The first, helmed by Katie Thurston, will air in the first week of June.
In the fall, Michelle Young will step into the limelight as the star of the series’ Fall season.
The Bachelorette returns beginning Monday, June 7 at 8/7c on ABC.